Experiencing Innate Joy!

Along life’s journey you have dreams. A few of them have been fulfilled, others are forgotten,

and some remain. The lingering dreams often come with a sense of longing for something yet unfulfilled.

These dreams often get buried under the practical side of life which says, “you must do this or you must do that,” but still the dream persists.

It keeps coming back.

Each time the dream surfaces it brings with it a different kind of energy: a glimpse of joy, confidence, freedom, and expansion.

There is a promise within the dream that says you can leave the old life behind and begin a new one.

But then, fears rise up and you turn away refusing to see the possibilities, dismissing them as dreaming or wishful thinking. You return to the well-worn path that feels comfortable and secure resigned to make the most of it.

No matter how strong the wall of fear, when you least expected it the dream pops in again.

This a dream won’t go away. It keeps tugging at your attention.

Perhaps its time to be still and take a closer look. With a little introspection you may notice a trail of circumstances, open doors, chance meetings or being in the right place at the right time.
This might reveal a pattern where elements of the best parts of your past come together to form a new shape. With this pattern you just may see a fork in the road you hadn’t seen before.

Oh yes, it’s all a little scary with a burst of ‘what if’s’! Behind you is the so called security and comfort of familiarity and ahead is uncertainty with hint of excitement. I know this feeling well.

The future might look a bit fuzzy, but the feelings that arise from your dream are vibrant, vivid and real.

One day you can no longer resist the pull, so you take the first step in the direction of your dream. This one step takes you beyond your limitations and fears. One step follows after another and your energy soars, your confidence grows, and your world begins to change.

Your dream is very much like a child’s abstract painting which is accompanied by a great tale of wisdom and adventure, it is your soul’s great imagining. Within every person, there are visions which, when acted upon, make new lives, bring new delight, heighten joy, and bringing ease to life.

The old ways of being fall away with easy and the new appears effortlessly.

Although your dream at times feels nebulous, you can be assured that it will unfold with perfection. It’s taking the steps in the direction of your dream that counts and letting the Universe take care of the how.
Moving forward with an awareness of your GPS will lead you on to many unbelievable and unexpected circumstances. Many of these events are beyond what you may have thought possible.

The beauty of following your dream is the joy of seeing what shows up next.

There is a Universe of infinite possibilities awaiting, but you have to take the first step.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”Steve Jobs

Follow your passion!

How often have your heard, read or been advised to do this?

But how does one find one’s passion? Maybe they are right in front of you, but you dismiss them as irrelevant, unattainable or a fantasy.

What if your curiosity, interests or desires were clues pointing you toward your passion? After all, passion is a strong feeling or desire.

What if you have a built-in guidance system that is gently moving you along despite any resistance you might be feeling? Perhaps your inner self knows where you need to be going and is guiding you.

Every day you are given subtle signs that gently indicate the next step on the path. They come from your inner wisdom in the form of simple desires.

Often these desires or interests are shrugged off as insignificant and only with hindsight does their real value surface.

In myself, the first evidence of this came in my teens with my passion for books about foreign lands and different cultures. Only later in life, was I able to look back and see that this passion guided me to a life as a global gypsy and later to working with the immigrant community.

Later, my fascination with shamanism and a desire to know more resulted in me heading off to Peru on an adventure into the world of the shaman. This turned into a 5-year exploration of self while guiding others on spiritual tours through Peru.

My explorations in Peru lead to an interest in quantum physics, neurology, the mind and thoughts, the culmination of all these interests or desires the brought me to the 3 Principles.

When I look back now, I am amazed at all I have done. It happened effortlessly because I allowed my interests and desires guide me forward. I am not saying there weren’t challenges along the way, but with hindsight I know that when I fought the desire I cause a lot of anxiety and stress for myself. However, when I let go and trusted this inner guidance my life moved along smoothly.

It’s very stressful to constantly feel that you don’t know what your passion is. It takes a lot of energy to constantly be evaluating each and everything you do in life trying to figure out if this or that is your passion. When if fact, it could be right there in front of you quietly presenting itself as an interest or desire.

Your inner guidance system is always leading you forward, all you have to do is trust in it. Let go of preconceived ideas of what life should be like and trust your personal GPS. This will lead you to some amazing places.

It’s all happening perfectly even without your help!

So, don’t fret that you can’t find your passion. Instead, listen to those simple desires and be curious about where they might lead. A new adventure awaits beyond the known.

For more years than I care to count, I bounced from new experience to new experience. In my case, you could also add job to job, country to country, relationship to relationship.

I loved the challenge and adventure that came with new situations. In a way it was like a reality game. Move to a new country, master a new job, meet new people, figure out how things worked then when it became routine, head off to a new adventure in a new place.

For several years, my life span in any one location was 2 years. The first year everything was great – a challenge, but by year two I was looking for the next fix.

To begin with, I loved all the new experiences and gained some amazing insights, but slowly I came to realize that if I wasn’t happy in this place what were the chances of me being happy in another place.

Initially, I came up with great excuses: the school had problems, administrator was bad, country had too many issues, it just wasn’t right for me, I could do better. My thinking could come up with the most convincing reasons why I should move.

Finally, I began to pay close attention to the pattern my movements. What was it that triggered me to begin looking for another experience fix? What was missing in this particular place?

The answer was clear ~ nothing. It was me! Or perhaps more exact, it was my thinking about my unhappiness! My thoughts about a place or situation were a reflection of the unhappiness with myself.

Ultimately, I was responsible for my happiness. No place, no external experiences, no amount of new friends or things would bring me happiness, it had to come from me.

This insight changed my life. I slowed down and kept my focus on the here and now rather than casting my thoughts into the future. Each time I wanted to bolt off in a new direction, I would pause and look at where this thought was coming from. Was it an external reaction or did this come from my inner wisdom?

It didn’t take me long to notice the different feeling between a knee jerk reaction and my inner voice or wisdom. Knowing this difference has changed my life.

My life is much more peaceful, happy and content. When I do take off on a new adventure it comes from a deep desire and not a means of escape.

Can you relate to this? Are you constantly on the move looking for new experiences and wondering why you can’t find them? It could be that your thinking is keeping you distracted from the inner source of this discontentment. Are you ready to make the shift from an outer focus to an inner one?

A good place to start is with my ebook: Finding Innate Joy or No More Chasing Butterflies.